Jackson board recommends renewal of Migoya’s CEO contract

The board that oversees Jackson Health System voted on Monday to recommend the renewal of a two-year employment contract for Carlos Migoya, the chief executive who took over the troubled system in May 2011 and, largely through cost-cutting, turned around a financial crisis that threatened to bankrupt the public safety net hospital system for Miami-Dade’s poor and uninsured.

Members of the Financial Recovery Board appointed to steer Jackson through the crisis said they are satisfied with Migoya’s leadership. He will not receive a raise in his $590,000-a-year base salary but will see an increase in benefits.

His benefits package will amount to $142,500 plus possible bonuses of $295,000. Included in his benefits: an expense allowance of $3,000 a month, an executive car lease of $12,750 a year and a benefits allowance of $10,000 a year.

The contract must be approved by Miami-Dade commissioners, who are scheduled to meet next on May 7.

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Marcos Lapciuc, board chairman for Jackson, gave Migoya his full endorsement, and noted that the chief executive earns “substantially less’’ than other major hospital executives.

“Bringing on Carlos Migoya was the right decision,’’ Lapciuc said at the meeting. “The results so far speak for themselves. ... He represents an exceptional value for this institution.’’

When Migoya was first hired at Jackson, the hospital system was close to financial collapse, having lost $419 million over three years. After Migoya’s first full year as chief executive, Jackson eked out an $8.2 million surplus in its fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to an audit released in March.

Migoya was absent from Monday’s board meeting because he was attending his father’s funeral. Migoya’s contract expires May 1, and he likely will have to work under a temporary contract until county commissioners approve the renewal, Lapciuc said.

Don Steigman, chief operating officer, reported that halfway through the current fiscal year, Jackson is on track to show a $35 million budget surplus, though Steigman also acknowledged significant challenges for the remainder of the year.

Because patient volumes at hospitals traditionally decline during the summer, Steigman said, Jackson executives will need to “focus on operations’’ to continue showing budget surpluses.

One of the most significant changes to Migoya’s new, two-year employment contract reflects Jackson’s transition from financial emergency mode to long-term sustainability.

Migoya’s previous contract awarded bonuses based solely on Jackson’s financial recovery. The new contract still requires financial improvement but also rewards him for meeting other “core measures,’’ Lapciuc said, including patient safety and satisfaction as well as the development of a comprehensive, three-year strategic plan.

“Today we’re in a different place,’’ Lapciuc said. “We’re not out of the woods from an economic perspective, but we’re also not on a daily threat of declaring bankruptcy.’’

Migoya donated his $160,000 bonus for 2012 to the Jackson Memorial Foundation, a non-profit that has raised millions of dollars to support Jackson.